What's new for IBM i 7.2

Read about new or significantly changed information for the Common Information Model topic collection.

IBM Universal Manageability Enablement for i licensed program enhancements

CIM has been updated to IBM® i licensed program 5770-UME version V1R4M0, which is based on OpenPegsus 2.11 release. This version contains lots of new CIM Server features and bug fixes. 5770-UME V1R4M0 supports any product that follows CIM standard including IBM System Director plus other management tools that use CIM.

The following content shows new CIM functions supported in 5770-UME V1R4M0:

OpenPegasus new features

CIM has been updated to IBM i licensed program 5770-UME version V1R4M0 which is based on OpenPegasus 2.11 release. The following sections describe the new features in this OpenPegasus version.

  • WSMAN association filters support

    Although Pegasus Enhancement Proposal (PEP) 311 added the initial support for Web Service Management protocol and support enumeration operation, Pegasus does not support one association filter in enumeration as defined in DSP 0227 WS-Management CIM Binding Specification. This enhancement adds the support for association filter.

    Refer to http://bugzilla.openpegasus.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8871 for enhancement details.

  • Diagnose data for BAD UTF8 exception

    If a CMPI provider tries to set a sting property with bad UTF8 chars, the server canceled the whole request with a BAD UTF8 exception. If the provider does not write its own trace, the bad data is not displayed in the exception. Only the offset index written but which can not be used, because the data is missing.

    The enhancement is to deliver the data within the exception message. The original message text is unchanged but enhanced with the data in the following format:

    <up to 40 correct UTF8 chars> <failing + up to 10 trailing chars in hex>

    Refer to http://bugzilla.openpegasus.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8806 for details.

  • Implementation of DMTF Indications Profile (DSP 1054) stage 2

    This enhancement implements indication delivery retry using CIM_IndicationService DeliveryRetryAttempts and DeliveryRetryInterval properties when indication delivery has failed because of 'temporary' errors in the protocol. See Pegasus Enhancement Proposal (PEP) 324 for details.

  • Improve the availability of the CIMOM by better isolation from faulty providers

    The enhancement solves the problem that one faulty provider can potentially bring the cimserver operations to a stand still. The changes in the enhancement only address out of process providers. See Pegasus Enhancement Proposal (PEP) 349 for details.

  • Support multiple provider directories for release builds

    OpenPegasus allows user to define its own provider directory. This enhancement enlarges the OpenPegasus capability to set multiple provider directories. This new capability enables the better management to the customer realized providers. By this, 5770-UME V1R4M0 can split shipped providers and customer realized providers by put them in different directories, and give different authorities to shipped provider directory and customer realized provider directory.

    In 5770-UME V1R4M0, only one customer provider directory is realized. The customer provider directory is “/QOpenSsy/QIBM/ProdData/UME/Pegasus/3rdprovider”. Customers can put their realized providers in this directory. The customer’s provider agent can be started when user send request to the provider. All of this can be down with the CIM Server is running, while user not need to restart the CIM Server.

    Refer to http://bugzilla.openpegasus.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8825 for details.

DMTF CIM Schema update

The only external data structure made available to the customer is the CIM Schema, which contains the managed system data. The CIM Schema version is V2.29 for 5770-UME V1R4M0 in IBM i 7.2.

On the first startup of the CIM Server, CIM Schema is updated automatically. The upgrade includes migration of any CIM schema extensions or CIM instances, including provider registrations added by IBM, any other vendor, or the customer.

The cimmof command line utility can also be used to compile CIM Schema classes, instances, or qualifiers into the repository.

5770-UME V1R4M0 updates

Following significant updates are introduced in 5770-UME V1R4M0.

  • Support cimreparchive as additional repository backup mechanism

    Besides IBM i specific SAVE and RESTORE mechanism, 5770-UME V1R4M0 also provides command line utility “cimreparchive” as an additional mechanism to backup CIM repository. Please refer to cimreparchive usage information for details.

  • ICU library changed

    5770-UME V1R4M0 changes ICU library from ICU 4.0 to ICU 3.6. The main reason is compatible issues in ICU4.0. OpenPegasus 2.11.0 could not work properly with ICU4.0. It could provide a little benefit while with lots questions not resolved. The following bugs provide more details on the reason that not upgrade to ICU4.0.

    http://bugzilla.openpegasus.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8651

    http://bugzilla.openpegasus.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7654

    As 5770-UME V1R4M0 is porting from OpenPegasus 2.11.0, and keep UME consistent with OpenPegsus could save lots of effort with no functionality downgrade.

How to see what's new or changed

To help you see where technical changes have been made, this information uses:
  • The Start of change image to mark where new or changed information begins.
  • The End of change image to mark where new or changed information ends.

In PDF files, you might see revision bars (|) in the left margin of new and changed information.

To find other information about what's new or changed this release, see the Memo to users.